Mount Union Students to Participate in Make a Difference Week

May 05, 2010

More than 100 Mount Union College students are scheduled to participate in service-learning and community service projects in the Alliance community and surrounding area October 21-27 in honor of Make a Difference Week.

Since 2000, Mount Union has participated in the national Make a Difference Day celebration. An initiative created by USA WEEKEND Magazine, Make A Difference Day is an annual event that takes place on the fourth Saturday of every October.

According to Leigh Ann Drago, VISTA service leader at Mount Union, the College decided to turn its Make a Difference Day program into a week-long schedule of events, beginning Saturday, October 21. Students of Marty Cashburless, chaplain of the College, and Randy Clark, assistant professor of communication, will join forces with members of Keep Alliance Beautiful to kick off the week. In conjunction with Keep Ohio Beautiful Week, also October 21-28, the group will plant bulbs in Keep America Beautiful's Liberty Garden in remembrance of those who lost their lives as a result of the September 11 tragedy.

The LS 100 students of Dr. Paula Caldwell, assistant professor of education; Dr. Peter Schneller, associate professor of education; Jessica Mrozek, director of campus card and facilities scheduling and Karen Saracusa, director of disability support services will also take part in the week's events. Caldwell's class will assist with two projects ' building a labyrinth for Trinity Episcopal Church and cleaning and organizing the playroom and food pantry at the Alliance Domestic Violence Shelter. Mrozek's students will complete maintenance and a clean-up of the gymnasium at Interfaith Child Development Center while Saracusa's students will complete a project at the John T. Huston-Dr. John D. Brumbaugh Nature Center.

Schneller's students joined together to complete their project in advance. They had the opportunity to interact with the children at Interfaith Child Development Center and produced a DVD promoting the services provided by the organization.

Other Mount Union students will be collecting donations at the gates of Mount Union Stadium prior to the Homecoming football game vs. Capital University. All proceeds will benefit the United Way of Stark County. In addition, Drago has challenged all of the student organizations on campus to join in a fundraising competition to benefit the United Way of Stark County.

Cleveland's 92.3 K-Rock will broadcast live from Mount Union's Homecoming Carnival in the Quad on Saturday, October 28 to bring a close to Make a Difference Week. The three-hour long broadcast will include a number of games and giveaways. In addition, students who sign up to complete volunteer hours through Mount Union's Office of Service-Learning and Community Service will win prizes including concert tickets, an autographed guitar, a CD prize pack and PlayStation games prize pack. Prizes will be awarded upon the completion of scheduled service hours.